February, 2020:

Zorra Township

Zorra is a township in Oxford County in south-western Ontario. A predominantly rural municipality, Zorra was formed in 1975 through the amalgamation of East Nissouri, West Zorra and North Oxford townships. It is best known for the Highland Games weekend held each summer in Embro, celebrating the heritage of the Scottish pioneer families. The township comprises the communities of Banner, Bennington, Brooksdale, Brown’s Corners, Cody’s Corners, Dicksons Corners, Dunn’s Corner, Embro, Golspie, Granthurst, Harrington, Harrington West, Holiday, Kintore, Lakeside, Maplewood, McConkey, Medina, Rayside, Thamesford, Uniondale, Youngsville, and Zorra Station.

Among the earliest settlers of Zorra Township, were United Empire Loyalists from the New England States. Zorra was first surveyed in 1820 and Embro became a separate municipality in 1858. Embro is located on a branch of the Thames River. The first buildings were two distilleries owned by McDonald and Crittenden.

Flour, grist and oatmeal mills were built. John McDonald built a carding and cloth factory. Businesses started up: watchmaker and jeweler, boots and shoes, eight blacksmith shops, wagon and carriage makers, tinsmith, carpenters, potash manufacturer, four general stores, two cabinet makers, undertaker, three doctors, and a pump manufacturer. In 1875, Embro had two newspapers, “The Planet” and “The Review”, with a third added in 1880, “The Embro Courier”. The Embro Public Library started as a Mechanics Institute in 1882; it became a public library in 1895.

Ingersoll, Ontario Book 2

Ingersoll, Ontario Book 1

The town of Ingersoll is ten miles from Woodstock, twenty-one miles from London, and ninety-eight from Toronto. Ingersoll was incorporated in 1865, and by the enterprise of its inhabitants enjoyed a steady and progressive growth. Most of the town was built on the sides and summit of the high gravelly banks of the River Thames, which flows through it and supplies constant water power, of which due advantage was taken by several factories at the waterside. The town got its name from a pioneer family named Ingersoll, who were among the first settlers in this district and took a very prominent part in the early career of the community.

It was situated on the Great Western Division of the Grand Trunk Railway, and also on the Credit Valley Branch of the Canadian Pacific. The country around is fertile, and large quantities of cheese were shipped from here. The manufacture of flour and cornmeal, with woolen and planing mills, a tannery and four agricultural implement factories, formed its chief industries; grain, livestock, and general manufactured products, in addition to cheese, formed its chief shipments.

In 1886 a special effort was made to induce desirable factories to locate here and in the following year the John Morrow Machine Screw Works, the Evans Bros. and Littler Piano factory and the Hault furniture factory were secured by giving liberal bonuses. Later on, the St. Charles Condenser and the Ingersoll Nut Factory were opened.

Ingersoll was the first town in Canada to adopt the silica-barytic sidewalks in 1890 when a contract was given to Otto Guelich of Detroit, to construct a sidewalk on the east side of Thames Street from the Atlantic House to the Baptist Tabernacle, a distance of three blocks. In 1891 a local company was organized with Walter Mills as manager, and year by year the work has been carried on till now nearly every street on both sides has a nice, clean, smooth silica-barytic sidewalk, totaling about fifty miles.

Tavistock and Innerkip and Area

Tavistock is located 15 kilometers southeast of Stratford and five kilometers south of Shakespeare on County Road 59. In 1848, Captain Henry Eckstein founded Tavistock. The world championship crokinole tournament has been held here annually since 1999.

Innerkip is located on Oxford Road 29 north of Highway 401, northeast of Woodstock.

Huntingford is located on County Road 59, north of Woodstock, west of Innerkip.

Punkeydoodles Corners is located four miles east of Tavistock. Today the corner has a scattering of houses and farms. At one time it was a bustling stop along the Huron Road. The most popular legend about how it got its name is from the song “Yankee Doodle Dandy” which was popular in the 1800s and often sung around the piano at the inn and tavern located at the Corner during the late nineteenth century. Today, the corner is the meeting place of three districts – Oxford County, Perth County and the Region of Waterloo.

Hickson is located at the intersection of Highway 59 and County Road 8, about thirteen kilometers north of Woodstock and ten kilometers south of Tavistock. Hickson was founded in 1876 when the Port Dover and Lake Huron Railway created a whistle-stop here. The new village was named after Sir Joseph Hickson, the general manager of the Grand Trunk Railway.